Introduction

Hey guys and girls, and welcome to my guide on Leona, the Radiant Dawn. If you're looking to build either a Pure Tank or Offensive Tank you've selected the right champion, as she excels in both roles - and looking sexy doing it! The aim of this guide is to provide insight on my personal experience as Leona and hopefully help you out on how she plays and functions. Although this guide will help you, I cannot promise you will become a great Leona player just by following builds etc. But remember, practice makes perfect.

Full Tank or Offensive Tank?

UPDATE: Season 3

Season 3! So many changes! The current gameplay for Leona has totally changed with heaps more items to customise. Leona still shines best as a Support Tank/Full Tank. Items with auras are still the way to go over damage items also.

Season 2 (Outdated)

With the release of Season 2 Masteries, I feel Leona will shine greater as a Full Tank. The Offensive Tank is still a strong build, but I have moved away from Build 3 completely. I will leave the page up for ideas for people to play around with my version of the Offensive Tank.

If you are playing a game and your entire team consists of squishy carries, your team has bad communication or your team is losing teamfights in general, you will need to build Full Tank to absorb all the damage and protect your team.

If your team consists of a few tanky champions, the Offensive Tank is still viable. I still feel the Full Tank will assist your team more efficiently.

Remember communication is key, get a feel for the match before you commit to a build (Because the core build for both Full Tank and Offensive Tank are the same). Also don't be afraid to sell items and go from Offensive Tank to Full Tank if needed.

Runes

Full Tank:

Runes

Greater Mark of Armor9

Greater Seal of Armor1

Greater Seal of Gold8

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist9

Greater Quintessence of Gold3

Greater Mark of Armor
These runes are your bread and butter of bottom lane. Since you are trading/poking your enemies, these will keep the damage to a minimal. Greater Mark of Magic Resist can also be used if you prefer those. Although with new items, it's actually easier to build your magic resistance from items.

Greater Seal of Armor
Extra early game tankiness, since the majority of damage is from pokes and harrassment (Which are healed by your Rejuvenation Bead). Another choice to replace your armour ones are Greater Seal of Gold runes. These will help you scale better into mid and late game to purchase more vision wards or oracles. Keep in mind that your early tanking capabilities aren't as great for the first 3-4 levels.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
Early game you really shine with Eclipse to shield you from both physical and magical damage, at level 10 it matches flat magic resistance. At this point you are just starting to tank 'serious' magical damage, so in the long run these will provide a bit more resistance.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed
If you are confident with Leona, running 3 x Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed is also another fantastic choice (Due to the speed nerf on boots and increase in base movement speed). Not only will these grant her faster movement, it allows you to chase, catch with Zenith Blade or escape when required. Even when required to sacrifice yourself these might give you the edge to run the opposite direction and be fast enough to slip out of sight in their jungle.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
Early game you really shine with Eclipse to shield you from both physical and magical damage, at level 10 it matches flat magic resistance. At this point you are just starting to tank 'serious' magical damage, so in the long run these will provide a bit more resistance.

Greater Quintessence of Health
These will synergize well with your Rejuvenation Bead, masteries and gears down the track. I would rather be able to tank, and if the tides are turned able to retreat whilst healing back up (sometimes providing just enough HP to turn around and protect your team mates to give them a chance to further escape without dying or dying yourself)

Other Runes

By all means this is just my recommendation and personal experience. You could even go as far as replacing the armour penetration marks and go for more armour/magic resists. At the end of the day, go with what works for you and your play style.

I have tested out the Greater Seal of Gold, which will weaken your early game but definitely generate plenty of gold that scales quite nicely into end game. To really put this into great effect, it's best to run Greater Quintessence of Gold as well as maximising Greed . Although this will now slow down your movespeed by 4.5%.

To counter the lower armour rating, you might even want to run defensive marks.

Masteries

TO BE UPDATED FROM SEASON 2

9 Offense / 21 Defence

Masteries

4/2

3/1

1/3

2/1

1/3

1/3

1/3

3/1

1/1

1/1

1/1

3/3

3/1

1/3

4/1

SPACEPros

High sustain.

Early tank capabilities and scales well entire game.

12.1% Cooldown reduction at level 18 from just masteries.

SPACECons

Lower movespeed if less than 70% HP.

Best used for either full tank or offensive tank. This maximises cooldown reduction and defensive capabilities.

1 Offensive / 21 Defence / 8 Utility

SPACEPros

High sustain.

Fastest movespeed masteries.

Revive faster if you die.

SPACECons

Lower cooldown reduction (8.1%) at level 18.

Less damage from all skills.

Another viable setup. Sacrifices some damage and cooldown reduction for increased movespeed and revive time.

At the end of the day, whether you choose to play off tank or full tank both Mastery Trees in my opinion will provide Leona with everything she requires. Just be mindful to have the rune pages setup properly.

Summoner Spells

Recommended:

I generally use Flash and Exhaust. Experiment and see what works for you and matches your play style the most. Here are my other recommendations.

Flash
A fantastic spell to have on Leona, this can be used to initiate team fights or escape. I prefer this spell over Ghost as you are able to escape through walls if required. It can also be used during a team fight to Flash out when almost dead and re-engage (if safe) if required.

Ghost
Provides movement speed, which can be used to initiate or escape. Stacks quite well with your Trinity Force. You could even go as far as removing 1 point from Perseverence and place it into Haste if want to run faster and longer. I generally prefer Flash, as Ghost is generally saved for carries. Still a good choice.

Ignite
I got killed by a tank?! This is the reaction you will get if used right. Early game combo + Ignite might just be enough to secure the kill if you're laning with an ally. Late game can be used during team fights when the enemy carries/squishies have taken enough damage will try to back off. Since you're in the middle you can easily Ignite them.

Exhaust
Great to disable the other team's most dangerous player. Again being in the middle of the enemy ranks allows you to easily Exhaust them without putting your team at too much risk. Can also be used to escape/protect your allies while retreating.

Teleport
A great spell to have if no one on your team is using it. Allows you to defend towers, since you're able to hold yourself against 2 enemies with all your CC. Can also be used to help team mates gank (teleporting to wards), or when you are solo laning allow you to get back into battle without much downtime.

Viable:

Cleanse
If the enemy team has plenty of CC this spell might be useful (Although you are supposed to tank all their CC). Generally you have no idea what you're up against so this is a blind pick. Still a useful spell as it can be used to save yourself and in most cases allows you to protect your allies.

Clarity
While laning you shouldn't be using your abilities left, right and centre. By the time you return to town you will have a Philosopher Stone to regen both HP and Mana. I suppose if you're laning with a support class you can provide yourself and your ally mana to lane longer.

Heal
Not a bad spell if you want to be able to protect your allies (Or tower dive/ heal bait). Usefulness does drop end game though.

Clairvoyance
Is actually great on Leona, you're pretty much playing a Support Role until you start transitioning into a tank. Never underestimate this skill as it can be used to let your jungler escape or secure a kill. Having said that, probably more suitable on your Support if you have one.

Skills, Skill Sequence and Skill Usage

Skills:

Leona's skills aren't the hardest to learn, but will take some getting used to. Practice is also required (as with most champions) to be useful to your team.

Sunlight is Leona's passive and will activate when a skill is used. It will boost the damage of your allies who deal damage to the minions and champions affected by this skill for 3.5 seconds. Leona's passive will also mark jungle creeps through walls to let you see them, which allows you to gank their jungler if you wanted to.

Shield of Daybreak will boost Leona's next attack as well as cause the opponent she hits to be stunned for 1.25 seconds. This skill doesn't do fantastic damage but when used correctly, will cause heaps of damage if you catch enemy champions who are in tower range. Shield of Daybreak is best saved for initiation with Zenith Blade to stun the enemy team's carry and disable Ultimates that require channeling (Fiddlesticks, Nunu).

Eclipse is Leona's self buff. While activated it provides Armour and Magic Resistance for 3 seconds, with a bonus of another 3 seconds if the skill hits an enemy minion or champion. The skill is also a great way to activate your passive Sunlight skill on enemies. Early game allows Leona to be aggressive, and tanking a tonne of damage. When this skill is mastered, it will provide plenty of resistance all the way to late game. Eclipse is the reason why you can rush Trinity Force, get HP items etc.

Zenith Blade is a great skill to initiate and chase down enemy champions. It also allows you to bypass creep waves straight onto enemy champions. This great skill comes at a cost though, it is a skill shot with a small hit box that takes some getting used to. Once you understand how it works, it allows you to jump over cliffs, through walls to chase enemy champions, initiating over enemy base walls (or your own base) and even escaping if an enemy is caught between you and an ally. It will 'flash' you to the last enemy champion you hit, so if you line the shot correctly will allow you to hit their squishiest player (Assuming most of them hide behind their tanks). The skill does hurt creep waves and can be used to farm, but remember if you connect with an enemy champion without wanting to, could leave you diving into enemy tower range and even causing yourself a death.

SPACE

Magic Damage: 150/250/350 (+0.8)
Cost: 100/150/200 Mana
Range: 1200

Solar Flare is Leona's Ultimate. It is an AOE nuke, which after a brief delay fires a 'solar flare' from the sun. Enemies hit by the skill will take damage and be slowed for 1.5 seconds, enemies towards the centre of the skill shot will be stunned instead of slowed. This spell is fantastic to use after you have initiated. Try to hit as many enemies as you can to provide the most benefit to your team. The skill can be shot over cliffs, into brush etc to cut off ganks, chase or protect fleeing allies. Using this Ultimate correctly will allow your team to wipe enemy carries, so use wisely.

Shield of Daybreak will have a lower cooldown the higher level it goes as well as increased damage (not as much as Zenith Blade) hence my recommendation of maxing it last.

You could level them side by side as well, as long as Eclipse is maxed as soon as possible.

Skill Usage:

Initiates:
Before you decide to initiate always start with Eclipse. After activating you have 3 seconds to land Zenith Blade followed by Shield of Daybreak to stun the enemy. After stunning you can choose to auto attack once or twice before deciding whether or not you want to chase or back off.

Feints:
Most people will back off as soon as you activate Eclipse. You can use this to your advantage to splash creep waves to farm or even run towards enemy champions to zone them out of experience range. The skill is best used between the melee creeps and mage creeps as the splash will hit them all.

Saving/Protecting Allies:
If you or your ally have underestimated damage and the enemy champion decides to counter attack and chase, your priority is to make sure you protect your ally, allowing them to escape back into tower range. Never abandon an ally unless you have absolutely no chance to save them (ie Ganks). Your Eclipse should be activated and be strong enough to withstand damage whilst placing yourself between your ally and enemy champions (If your stun is up, use it!). In most cases you will be thanked for saving your team mate and denying the enemy of gold. Your job is done if you can achieve this.

Your Ultimate:
Do not start off with this unless you have communicated with your team mates (and that they jump in instantly when you have used it). The damage from Solar Flare isn't much if there is no follow up. Don't stand in the open and use it either, you use it when the enemy least expect it or you will miss due to the brief delay. Always shoot this spell where you think the enemy will be in a second's time or you will miss the stun.

A great defensive way to use this is, if you are losing your tower (Because it's unguarded etc) is to walk from behind the tower and firing it directly onto enemy champions (You are out of their vision range for most of the part). Most of the time they are so focused on the tower and because your range is quite large will not see it coming. Many times I have come from behind my tower, fired my Ultimate which causes them to be stunned, Eclipse >> Zenith Blade >> Shield of Daybreak to combo plus cause another stun to leave them in range of your tower, granting myself a kill with assistance from the tower. This is probably the only time you can safely blow your Ultimate.

Things to remember:

Latency:
Get used to where you need to shoot Solar Flare / Zenith Blade. Throwing it directly on a moving champion will 9/10 times miss. Use it just in front of where they're heading or behind them when they are retreating/playing cautiously.

Baits:
Don't fall for enemies who are baiting your Ultimate(You shouldn't be starting with it anyway). Even if you feel you are going to hit, don't. Wait until the fight is engaged (initiate when it is safe to do so), and then use it. You would rather 3 players hit by it than just 1.

Save Skills:
Don't go spamming Eclipse / Zenith Blade / Shield of Daybreak to farm (Your carries should be the one farming anyway). Have at least 1-2 skills not on cooldown because at any given moment you could be ganked, or find you need to save an ally... you are useless without your skills.

If you're the type of person to panic during a fight and blow all your skills, ultimate and actives... take a deep breath and approach the situation calmly. You don't win battles by wasting all your CC's in the first 3 seconds of your team fight. Learn who you need to use them on, and use them wisely.

Items

TO BE UPDATED FROM SEASON 2

There are plenty of ways you can build Leona. I generally like to build up to her core and then branching off to either Full Tank or Off Tank depending on how your team is setup, how well your team is doing etc.

Core Build:

These 3 items are the absolute core of her build and should be built first up. In my opinion these three items allow her to lane extremely well, tank and support her laning partner. I will explain why I have chosen these down below.

Philosopher's Stone Sight Ward

Start with a Regrowth Pendant and Health Potion. Not only does it allow you to lane longer, with all your HP regeneration masteries/runes you should be able to play more aggressively (Even if you decided to use speed quintessence and the utility tree you still have decent sustain). When it is safe to do so you could even behind their mage minions to zone and really push them back out of experience range allowing your laning partner to farm freely. Be really careful as you don't have ward vision for the first 5 minutes though.

If you are wanting to play a safe lane start with 3 x Sight Wards, 2 x Health Potions and a Faerie Charm. This will provide you vision. If possible play aggressively if your carry can follow up to use your passive.

Personally I like to build a Sheen first up to provide a heap of burst damage early on. This could even net yourself and/or your laning partner an early kill or two due to the increased damage from your burst combo. Not to mention it provides more mana to lane for longer/use skills more often.

The next item I like to build is the Zeal. I like running a little bit faster and being able to hit more often to farm those creeps. Leona already has a poor ability to farm early on so any help is better than none at all.

Lastly moving onto the Phage. More damage, more HP and the ability to slow your enemies by 30% for 2.5 seconds at a 25% chance. This item might be just enough to assist your laning partner the kill by slowing down the enemy champion's escape to his/her tower. Normally building the last item you may as well wait to grab the Trinity Force as well.

If you're building full tank, you might want to skip over the Trinity Force and go straight to the Sunfire Cape. This item will help you farm more efficiently (If your partner isn't farming) with your Eclipse. If you return to buy and can afford the Giant's Belt do so, if not, picking up the Chain Vest will still boost your tanking capabilities.

Aegis of the Legion is also another fantastic item to purchase as it provides your laning partner with more armour, magic resistance and some attack damage. Just communicate with your jungler to make sure they aren't getting one themselves.

SORSSORS

On a tank you might want more tenacity... which might just be enough to save an ally during a team fight. CDR is also important but you decide whether you want more magic resistace + tenacity or more CDR (Which can be gotten down the track with Frozen Heart and/or Shurelya's Reverie).

If you're using the defence and utility tree, you might be able to grab a Ninja Tabi. Only grab these boots if the other team has 3 AD carries/AD heavy, as Mercury's Treads are the best choice.

Randuin's Omen will add 75 Armour, 350 HP, 25 HP Regen/5 Seconds, 5% CDR and 20% chance to slow attack speed and movement of enemies by 35% for 3 seconds when Leona is hit. There is also a fantastic active which slows enemies movement and attack speed for 2 seconds + 0.5 for each 100 Armour and Magic Resist Leona has (This extra slow can be increased by Leona's Eclipse.

Randuin's Omen is a better item and combined with its active can really turn the tides of battle allowing both for victories or the ability to retreat safely. Frozen Heart is still a great item but cheaper. Remember: if you have the Strength of Spirit , which increases your health regeneration per 5 seconds by 1% of your maximum mana, this equates roughly to 15 HP/5 seconds with 1500 mana. This equates roughly to 15HP/5 second with 1500 Mana. Still not as much as Randuin's Omen's 25HP/5 second but still a lot better than none at all.

Personally I will build Randuin's Omen if I have the gold after my Trinity Force or Sunfire Cape if my team is doing well. But for roughly 500 Gold cheaper I could get more armour and more CDR with almost the same HP regen. This isn't counting Force of Nature if you decide to grab one down the track. Remember your Heart of Gold has made up for itself after 27 minutes 30 seconds (825 Gold generated) and was an item for early sustain in lane. You can choose to sell this item for more gold and purchase the Frozen Heart as well as start building your Force of Nature / Banshee's Veil.

A few things you can get the enemy to do is to hit you if your team is fleeing a losing battle. Randuin's Omen has a passive that reduces their move speed when they attack you. Likewise if your team is fleeing, you should be at the back to prevent the other team from jumping on your team, the Frozen Heart can slow down their attack speed. Getting a dodge will increase your speed also which is great to distance yourself.

SORS

Personally I prefer to go with Force of Nature for more resistance, HP recovery and movement speed, but if the enemy has a tonne of CC or annoying skills, then a Banshee's Veil might serve a better purpose. Eclipse already boosts Leona's magic resistance decently, so 26 less resistance from Banshee's Veil isn't going to affect us much. Remember everything you have built so far will provide you more HP, so at the end of the day, it's your call on either items.

Finishing Off The Build:

More Health? More Damage? More Armour? More Resistances?

This is where some creative thinking comes into play. How well are you doing? How good is your team performing? How squishy / durable is your team? How many AD / AP on the enemy team? All these should be considerations on how you finish off Leona's build.

All the items below can be considered in the build, since you are pretty well rounded now.

Life:

Adds 1270HP (When stacked) and HP regeneration. Why not increase your already high armour and magic resistance and become almost 'immortal' with all this HP! Works really well when combined with Atma's Impaler.

Adds 700HP with the ability to slow down your opponents' movement speed. Personally I like the Warmog's Armor more because it provides more HP. The movement speed slow is still great to secure kills from fleeing enemies though if you didn't build the Trinity Force.

Adds 500HP and 80 AP with the ability to slow enemy movement speeds. For the same reason as the Frozen Mallet, you shouldn't be needing this item unless you seriously want to chase people down with Zenith Blade and/or Eclipse. It can be used during initiation because Eclipse will splash heaps of enemies, but you already have your ultimate to do that.

Adds 450HP and 45 armour. Another great item if you're lacking in the armour department and want some HP too. You can use this item to even chase down people and passively kill them. You will gain a lot of assists with this item if you're in the middle of the enemy team as they die.

Adds 375HP, 375 Mana and 50 magic resistance. Not a bad item to tidy up a build to really tank magical damage. Again a total waste (except for the ability to block a single skill) if the enemy isn't packing huge amounts of AP.

Shurelya's Reverie Adds 330HP, 30HP/5 seconds and 15 Mana/5 seconds. Not that much HP, and basically it's something to upgrade your Philosopher's Stone for more regeneration as well as an active to boost movement speed 40% for 3 seconds. The active is fantastic for initiations or retreating.

Not a fan of items that stack for bonuses, but if you are able to gain assists (and you should if you're at every team fight) and/or not die, then the bonus of 15% reduced damage is awesome. Risky, so only use if you are doing extremely well.

Armour:

Only ever get this if the enemy team has 3-4 AD carries. It provides 100 armour and returns 30% damage if Leona receives standard attacks (auto attacks).

This is going way overboard with armour if you already have a Frozen Heart. Also expensive, but if you can afford it, go for it as it has a great active and it provides Leona with plenty of stats.

This item provides decent armour and magic resist but you should have enough tank items to not die. With this item not many people will want to focus you (which is what you want on a tank), best used on your squishy carries as they can lifesteal it back up.

Adds 45 armour and 18% critical strike chance. It increases attack damage by 1.5% of your HP. A wonderful item to complete your build if you have Warmog's Armor. This item can also work with Frozen Mallet if you decide not to use Trinity Force

Adds 100AP and 50 armour. It also has an active of completely shielding Leona for 2 seconds, but you cannot move or use skills during it. I suppose if you want more AP for damage (I don't know why you would on a tank with AP scalings that are as bad as Leona's.. ), then this is the item for you. 50 armour is nice but again there are plenty of better items than this one.

Adds 270HP, 18 armour, 24 magic resistance and an aura that provides your team with 12 armour, 15 magic resist and 8 damage. The aura is quite good if you can get it early game. Overally it is a cheap item for what it provides.

Magic Resistance:

Adds 70AP and 57 magic resistance with an aura that decreases 20 magic resist for nearby enemy champions. A decent item for support whilst providing a fair amount of magic resistance. I suppose this might work better if your team is more AP based.

Adds 56 magic resistance and a free Cleanse. Not a bad choice to increase your magic resistance and cancel out annoying ultimates such as Malzahar's Nether Grasp and Warwick's Infinite Duress.

Adds 30 magic resistance, 250HP, 10% CDR and 15% more regeneration and healing effects. Another decent item because of your regen masteries and runes, but even better if you have a healing support on your team. Cheap item as well.

Offense:

Most of the better offensive items are already listed above. They include Atma's Impaler, Abyssal Scepter and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. A few others that may work are listed below.

Provides more damage on top of the Trinity Force, as well as life steal and spell vamp. Also has an active that deals 300 magic damage and slows enemy champion. Never build this item.

250HP, 15% CDR and an aura that provides 20% Attack Speed and 12% Life Steal. A decent item if your team is more AD than AP. I wouldn't get this item unless you have 3 AD champions on your team.

Combo Suggestions:

SORS
Attack Damage Carries will do almost no damage

Ability Power Carries will do almost no damage

Shurelya's Reverie
Enemies will have a hard time escaping

Item Summary:

All the items listed above will all be situational. Build Leona how you feel fit, remembering to take into account of how the game is going. The last 2 items must complement your build, assist your team mates and cause as much trouble to the other team as possible.

Farming

Creep Farming:

Leona's ability to farm is weak compared to most champions. Her ability to creep kill only starts to pick up mid game where her Eclipse is strong enough to clear creep waves from almost full health.

Early Game:
Focus on last hitting (If in a duo lane, only on the creeps your ally misses), and pushing enemies away to allow your laning partner to last hit without being harrassed. Eclipse can be used sparingly to last hit 2 or more minions or tagging them with your passive to allow easier farming for your ally. Don't use Zenith Blade to farm (Although good at last hitting creeps at ranged), be mindful that if you touch an enemy champion with this skill, it will instantly flash you to them (dangerous if you're unprepared/low on health). Your focus during this phase is taking damage and protecting your ally from pokes, since you can regenerate quite well. Try not to push the lane though as you want the waves pushed as close to your tower as possible. Tank them if your ally is making their way back into the lane so the tower doesn't kill them.

Mid Game:
Level 10 onwards is where you should start picking up creep waves a lot better with Eclipse, by now either your lane has pushed a tower or being pushed. I would rather let them 'push' to lane longer hence farming up. From here try not to leave your lane unnecessarily as Leona's items aren't cheap. Leave and support allies where possible but if nothing happens, go back to your lane to protect your tower and continue farming.

End Game:
The only farming you will be doing is clearing tower waves or pushing. Eclipse and Zenith Blade should be strong enough to clear with a single skill, but only use these if you are sure that there no enemies nearby. You want these 2 skills ready to initiate or retreat at any time required.

Farming Summary:

Even though Leona's ability to kill creeps is low at the start, during mid to end game it is not uncommon for her to catch up as she wipes through waves with her abilities. Remember, farm sensibly and protect team mates.

Team Work, Laning Partners and Play Style

More to come...

Hall of Fame

I don't claim to be the best player, but at the same time I don't feel I am the worst Leona player. We all have our good days and bad days. Here are a few screenshots of how I went while testing out builds.

If this guide has helped you and you would like to be included in this little Hall of Fame, please send me a PM. I'll gladly post up your screenshots!

Summary

I will constantly add more and more details on skills, items and play styles as the days/weeks/months go by to help out as much as I can as Leona will change with future patches. By all means, constructive feedback will be highly appreciated but down right trolling and flaming for no cause will be ignored. I hope this has helped out with your Leona play style, whether you have played her since day one or just started! Good luck...!

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!